uterus

page updated: 30-Mar-2004

Because it seems that not everyone is clear on just what a uterus is (was just talking to my guy roommate and discovered this), the uterus is another word for womb. (Basically,) it's the organ that the baby grows in when a woman is pregnant. It has a cushy, blood-rich lining called the endometrium that grows each month in case an embryo gets made, and then is shed during a lady's period if she doesn't get fertilized that month.

What I know of the appearance and structure of the uterus I learned in school. It is said to be shaped kind of like an upside-down, hollow, muscular... pear. It is positioned at the top of the vagina, with the cervix being kind of the entrance to it. I think the never-been-pregnant uterus is only a few inches tall, 2 or 3. It is much smaller before puberty, and does get bigger (and stronger) for awhile after a girl starts menstruating. After childbirth, the uterus settles down to a little bigger than it started out-- 4 or 5 inches?

I think that I am more conscious of my uterus than any other internal organ besides like, my bladder and my stomach. I guess the ones that interact directly with the outside world get the most attention. I've never noted any activity from my liver or kidneys. My lungs are kind of constant background, like the fridge buzzing :)

I get pretty obsessed with my uterus. I probably say the word uterus more than any other word relating to my vagina and its lifestyle (except lately, when saying vagina all the time has become a household habit, but that is just because of this project).

Since before menstruating, I've been most conscious of the internal aspect of my vagina; more so than say the moist component of it or the pleasurable aspect or a "dirty" idea or anything else. Most of the vagina things I've come across, at least lately, have been more clitorally focussed. I am more womb-focussed. I get into there being a place inside me and being able to put things in it and things being able to come out of it and whatever. (Sometimes I have stupid fantasies and end up blurting out things like "I think I'd like my uterus better if I could keep bees in it, and shoot them out at people.")

Logically, my uterus being the real internal storage area, I get to thinking about it. I only ever say womb as a joke, although uterus sounds ridiculously medical. Too much related to intra-uterine devices and injections. Womb sounds silly and folk-wifey to me, and also more baby-related. Uteruses can be empty, but womb implies fertility. Sez me anyway :)